Coin of the realm

Alan commented favourably on the new British coins in a post. He is so right. Check them out:

The one pound coin (left) shows the Royal Arms and the other coins each show a small portion of the same heraldic design. I really do like asymmetry, and given that designs on coins are almost without exception symmetrical, these coins are quite striking. Seeing them displayed above, I wouldn’t have thought to arrange the silver and copper (coloured) coins to make a larger representation of the Royal Arms, as shown below.

Cool, eh? The design was the winner of a contest that garnered 4000 submissions. Mathew Dent, a 26-year-old graphics designer, won the contest and will see his work every day as the new coins gradually enter circulation later this year.

The only other real surprise is that the coins are so poorly aligned in the image to the right. Come on, couldn’t they do a better job for an image posted on the Royal Mint’s web site announcing the new coins?